Samsung, Toshiba renew deal to share computer chip licenses

SEOUL, June 22 (Yonhap) - Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest chipmaker,
said Monday it has renewed an agreement with Japan's Toshiba Corp. to share
licenses for NAND flash memory chips.

The deal is expected to reinforce the market presence of the two chipmakers as
the leading suppliers of flash memory chips for mobile phones, music players and
other portable devices.
Exact details on how the licenses held by both sides will be shared and the
duration of the latest cooperative arrangement have not been released.
In 2007, Samsung Electronics agreed to share its licenses for integrated OneNAND
and Flex-OneNAND chips with Toshiba in exchange for the Japanese company allowing
use of technology related to single-package LBA-NAND and mobilLBA-NAND chips.
The companies released various products last year based on technologies they shared.
As of the end of 2008, Samsung led the NAND flash memory market with a
42.1-percent market share, followed by Toshiba with 29.3 percent. South Korea's
Hynix Semiconductor Co. ranked third with 12.3 percent.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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